Hollywood Studios also had quite a few days changed, and will now stay open until 9 or 9:30pm occasionally. Those days will also see an additional showing of Fantasmic!. Animal Kingdom had many closing times adjusted as well.

The chart below shows all current park hours with changes in red.

You may notice changes to our Crowd Calendar involving some of the changed dates. We recently began using our own internal projected park hours to give you the most accurate crowd ratings available. Using these projected hours has made our long-term crowd ratings more stable, but we are not perfect (well, some of us).

Even with our projections, there were some changes to the Crowd Calendar for October:

October 18:

Animal Kingdom’s crowd rating was increased from 1.4 to 5.3 – This is due to the closing time being moved from 5pm to 7pm. We expected closing to remain at 5pm as it did on the equivalent day last year (October 20, 2011). The increase to 7pm indicates that Disney is expecting a larger crowd on this day.

October 19:

Magic Kingdom’s crowd rating was increased from 4.6 to 7.6 – This is due to the addition of 2 Main Street Electrical Parades where there were previously none. It is less common for Disney to add parades where none had previously been scheduled, indicating that higher crowds are expected.

Animal Kingdom’s crowd rating was increased from 3.2 to 7.0 – This is due to the closing time being moved from 6pm to 8pm. We expected closing to remain at 6pm as it did on the equivalent day last year (October 21, 2011). The increase to 8pm indicates that Disney is expecting a larger crowd on this day and specifically keeping the park open until 8pm is odd in the off season. Typically 8pm or later closings only occur at Animal Kingdom at busy times.

October 20:

Animal Kingdom’s crowd rating was increased from 3.1 to 6.9 – This is due to the closing time being moved from 6pm to 8pm and the rationale is exactly the same as for October 19 above.

October 25:

Hollywood Studios’ crowd rating was decreased from 6.0 to 1.1 – Finally, a good change! This is due to the closing time being 6pm with no showings of Fantasmic!. I am unsure of the reason for the early closing but it is typically for a private special event. Regardless, short park days often have very low crowds as many do not want to go to a park with shorter operating hours.

We apologize for the changes, although one thing you should be aware of is that Disney sometimes announces extended operating hours on the actual day of operation. Saturdays in particular tend to be prime candidate for last minute extensions. These extensions are not necessarily something that can be planned around, but you should be aware that they are possible. We will make sure to keep you updated on all changes.

From looking at your previous article, it seems like they are making more MK adjustments than last year. Is this true or just my perception? And if it is true, has it been true in general this year or is it an October aberration?

This year may have a few longer days, but it’s close. The strange thing is that for the last few months Disney has not been keeping the Magic Kingdom open until midnight like they did in 2011. It remains to be seen if they will go back to these late Saturdays through the rest of the year or if they will stick to their more recent schedule.

Hi. Just asking, if the parks have extended hours is this because it’s a busy time to go? Looking at travelling there in September 2013 as they say its a quieter time but worried that the weather will be wet the whole visit. Any help would be great – links?
Thanks in advance

Yes, generally the later the closing times, the busier the park is expected to be. September is a very good time to visit because the crowds are as low as they get. October is a reasonably low month as well, but the weekends get busier with the Food and Wine festival at Epcot and the breaking of the summer heat.

You will probably get a little wet in September, but that’s Florida 🙂 The storms are frequent, but fast moving so they don’t impact touring all that much.

It is showing the correct hours for me, although I don’t think it will automatically adjust an existing plan. If you click the “Edit” button in the grey box at the top you should be able to change the time.

The 20th is also showing the correct hours for me, although, as I said above, I don’t think it will automatically adjust an existing plan. If you click the “Edit” button in the grey box at the top you should be able to change the time.

Great info, thanks a lot. One question, the crowd for MK for 20th has dropped from 8/9 to 5.6 which will be great! How confident are you it will stay below 6ish please? I’m thinking of changing our plans as MK would be better for us that day, but don’t want to risk a subsequent increase back up to 8/9 out of 10. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

The reason for the drop is because we had expected the MK to be open until midnight on that day. I would not be surprised if Disney extended the operating time by an hour sometime during that day because the crowds are a little larger than they expect at this time.

My best advice is to get there prior to park opening and use a Touring Plan. Then it won’t matter how big the crowd is.

The update to the HS hours on 10/25 has me a little puzzled regarding what to do with our park planning. Following ‘best park’ recommendations, I previously planned:
10/25 mid morning arrival at resort then EP; 10/26 HS; 10/27 AK; 10/28 MK, 10/29 EP; 10/30 MK, leaving resort at 3:00. Now…I am wondering whether it is beter to go HS on 10/25 but then not sure when I pick up the EP hours in trade. Also have Fantasmic dining event reservations for 4:40 on 10/26. Would it make sense to go all in HS on 10/25 and then split 10/26 EP/HS, hoping for lighter EP crowds early in the day?